Eze 19 | LSB | STEP | “As for you, take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel

Ezekiel 19

A Lament for the Princes of Israel

1 “As for you, take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel 2 and say,

‘ ^{▼▼Or Why did your mother, a lioness, lie down among lions; among young lions rear her cubs?}What was your mother?
A lioness among lions!
She lay down among young lions;
She reared her cubs.
3 ‘So she brought up one of her cubs;
He became a lion,
And he learned to tear his prey;
He devoured men.
4 ‘Then nations heard about him;
He was captured in their pit,
And they brought him with hooks
To the land of Egypt.
5 ‘Then she saw, as she waited,
That her hope was lost,
So she took ^{▼▼Lit one}another of her cubs
And made him a young lion.
6 ‘And he walked about among the lions;
He became a young lion;
He learned to tear his prey;
He devoured men.
7 ‘He ^{▼▼Targum destroy}knew how to destroy their ^{▼▼Or widows}fortified towers
And laid waste their cities;
And the land was in desolation, as well as its fullness
Because of the sound of his roaring.
8 ‘Then nations put themselves against him
All around from their provinces,
And they spread their net over him;
He was captured in their pit.
9 ‘They put him in a cage with hooks
And brought him to the king of Babylon;
They brought him in hunting nets
So that his voice would be heard no more
On the mountains of Israel.
10 ‘Your mother was like a vine in your ^{▼▼As in some ancient mss; M.T. blood}vineyard,
Planted by the waters;
It was fruitful and full of branches
Because of abundant waters.
11 ‘And it had ^{▼▼Lit rods of strength}strong thick branches fit for scepters of rulers,
And its height was exalted above the clouds
So that it was seen in its exaltedness with the mass of its foliage.
12 ‘But it was uprooted in wrath;
It was cast down to the ground;
And the east wind dried up its fruit.
Its ^{▼▼Lit rods of her strength}strong thick branch ^{▼▼As in Gr; M.T. they were}was torn off
So that ^{▼▼As in Gr; M.T. they}it dried up;
The fire consumed it.
13 ‘So now it is planted in the wilderness,
In a dry and thirsty land.
14 ‘And fire has gone out from its thick branch;
It has consumed its shoots and fruit,
So that there is not in it a ^{▼▼Lit rod of strength}strong thick branch,
A scepter to rule.’ ”
This is a lamentation and has become a lamentation.